Underwater gun having a rotatable cylinder



Feb. 10, 1970 E. HENDRICKS 3,49 ,06

UNDERWATER GUN HAVING A ROTATABLE CYLINDER Filed March 11, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 'IIIIIIIIIII M INVENTOR. GROVE/K E. HE/VD/Q/CKS A TTORNE Y Feb. 10, 1970 E. HENDRICKS UNDERWATER GUN HAVING A ROTATABLE CYLINDER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 1]., 1968 I N VEN T OR. GROVER E HENDRICKS A TTORNE Y Int. Cl. F41c 1/00 US. Cl. 42-65 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An underwater gun including inner and outer telescopic members with a spring means urging the outer telescopic member to a forward limit position upon the inner telescopic member. One end of said inner telescopic member is connected to an elongated handle and the other end of said inner member mounts a forwardly projecting detonating pin. A rotary member containing a plurality of equally spaced longitudinal bores each adapted to receive an ammunition cartridge is mounted at the forward end of the outer telescopic member and so positioned that, as the rotary member is rotated, ammunition cartridges seated in said bores are sequentially aligned with said detonating pin.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention pertains to an underwater gun which includes a handle, an inner telescopic member carried by one end of said handle, and an outer telescopic member reciprocable upon said inner telescopic member between two limit points. A spring engages said inner and outer telescopic members to urge said outer telescopic member to a forward limit position upon said inner telescopic member. A rotatable member containing a plurality of equally spaced longitudinal cartridge bores each spaced an equal distance from the axis of rotation thereof and having an end part adapted to seat an ammunition cartridge is carried by said outer telescopic member. Said inner telescopic member includes a forward projecting detonating pin which is alignable with each cartridge bore as the rotatable member is rotated. The detonating pin is adapted to strike the base of an ammunition cartridge seating in said cartridge bore when said outer telescopic member moves longitudinally from its forward limit position relative to said inner telescopic member. An indexing means sequentially aligns each cartridge bore with said detonating Underwater guns heretofore constructed which are adapted to discharge a cartridge projectile into a selected target have been of the general type disclosed in US. Patents 3,300,888 and 3,210,877. One disadvantage of guns of this type is that they contain but a single shot. To ready the gun for an additional shot, a portion of it must be disassembled, the spent cartridge casing must be removed, a new cartridge must be inserted into the gun chamber, and the gun must be reassembled. Should the target consist of a plurality of underwater predators such as sharks, or a single shark which a first shot wounds and does not kill, the swimmer is defenseless and in great danger during the time it takes to reload his gun.

The invention herein described concerns an underwater gun having a rotatable member containing a plurality of cartridges. After a cartridge has been fired, the rotatable member need only be rotated by the swimmer to index an adjacent live cartridge into alignment with the detonating pin, thus readying the gun for firing again. In this manner the gun may be discharged a number of times in rapid succession without having to be disassembled and reloaded by the swimmer.

3,494,060 Patented Feb. 10, 1970 Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a reliable multiple shot underwater gun.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a multiple shot underwater gun which has its cartridge bores sealed.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a multiple shot underwater gun which is easily and rapidly operable and dependable.

Other objects of this invention will become apparent upon a reading of the inventions description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS A preferred embodiment of this invention has been chosen for the purposes of illustration and description wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the device of this invention.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view taken along line 22 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view taken along line 33 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view taken along line 44 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary detail sectional view taken along line 55 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a cross sectional view taken along line 6-6 of FIG. 2.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The preferred embdiment illustrated is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. It is chosen and described in order to best explain the principle of the invention and its application and practical use to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention.

The underwater gun of this invention includes an elongated handle 10 which is preferably 6 to 7 feet in length and of tubular construction. A plug member 12 seals one end of handle 10 and may include a projecting apertured lug 14. An insert or inner telescopic member 16 is mounted in any convenient manner to the other end of handle 10, as by means of a reduced end portion 18 which is snugly seated into the open end of handle 10 and anchored by a pin 20 inserted into aligned apertures within end portion 18 and handle 10.

The remaining portion of inner telescopic member 16 is preferably cylindrical in configuration having a forward end part 36 of reduced diameter which is defined in part by shoulder 22. The forward end part 36 has an axial bore 24 which is enlarged adjacent its mouth. Inner telescopic member 16 preferably also has a diametrical bore 26 which intersects axial bore 24 at the base of its enlargement 28.

An outer telescopic member 30 comprising thin and thick walled sections separated by an integral internal shoulder 32 surrounds inner telescopic member 16 having its thick walled section 34 reciprocable upon forward end part 36 and its thin walled section 38 reciprocable upon surface 40 of telescopic member 16. Surrounding forward end part 36 and compressed between shoulders 22 and 32 is a coil spring 42. Outer telescopic member 30 preferably has diametrically opposed longitudinal slots 44 and 45. Slot 44 has a width substantially equal to the diameter of inner telescopic member bore 26. Slot 45 at the opposite side of outer telescopic member 30 is preferably of narrower width than bore 26 except for opposed grooves 52 (one only shown in FIG. 1) at the rearward portion of the slot. A safety pin 46 of cylindrical configuration and having a narrow flattened end part 48 extends through telescopic members 16 and 30 with its cylindrical part 50 slidably engaged within bore 26 and slot 44. With pin 46 in its safety-on position, as shown in FIG. 6, flattened end part 48 protrudes beyond the outline of outer telescopic member 30 with a portion of cylindrical part 50 seated in grooves 52 in slot 45. With the pin in this position, the outer telescopic member 30 is locked in a forward limit position upon inner telescopic member 16. When pin 46 is in its safety-off position, the pin is displaced to the right of its safety-on position shown in FIG. 6 so that its flattened end part 48 rides within the narrows of slot 45 with cylindrical part 50 of the pin free of grooves 52 and having its end portion projecting beyond the outline of telescopic member 30. With the pin in its safety-01f position, telescopic members 16 and 30 are free to reciprocate between limits with cylindrical part 50 movable along slot 44.

Cylindrical part 50 of pin 46 contains two spaced circumferential grooves 54 and 56 positioned intermediate its ends. A compressed coil spring 58 is seated within bore 24 of inner telescopic member 16 having one end engaging bore base 60 and its other end engaging a detent member 62 whose rounded tip protrudes into one of said circumferential grooves 54 or 56 depending on whether the pin 46 is in its safety-off or safety-on position.

A detonating pin 64 having a circumferential flange 66 intermediate its length is seated within enlargement 28 of bore 24 with its flange 66 abutting the end face 68 of inner telescopic member 16. Detonating pin 64 may be retained within enlargement 28 by means of a pin inserted into aligned apertures in the detonating pin and side wall of the inner telescopic member. A lug 70 projects from the rearward end of detonating pin 64 into a longitudinal groove 72 in safety pin 46 which preferably extends between the outer edge of circumferential groove 54 and the outer edge of circumferential groove 56.

An integral part 74 extends from the thick wall section 34 of the outer telescopic member 30. Part 74 has two longitudinal bores 76 and 78 of which bore 76 is preferably of constant diameter and positioned proximate thick wall section 34. Bore 78 is positioned outwardly of bore 76 and preferably has its axis lying in substantially the same plane as the axes of bore 76 and detonating pin 64. Bore 78 is defined by cylindrical side walls 80 and 82 separated by an annular shoulder 84. Side walls 80 and 82 also define a longitudinal slot 86 which may extend the full length of bore 78. An indexing pin 88 substantially cylindrical in cross section and including a longitudinal integral key 90 is slidably disposed in bore 78 with key 90 engaging slot 86. The base 92 of pin 88 includes an outturned flange 93 which is caused to engage shoulder 84 in bore 78 by the urging of coil spring 94 positioned between base 92 and a transverse pin 96 which is mounted within part 74 and extends across bore 78. The head of pin 88 is circumferentially beveled at 98 with key 90 extending fully to the tip of the pin as shown in FIG. 2 and having its leading edge 100 beveled as shown in FIG. 5.

A rotatable member 102 having an axial bore 104 defined by side wall 106 and end wall 108 is mounted, in a manner later to be described, to outer telescopic member 30. Side wall 106 contains a plurality of equally spaced longitudinal cartridge bores 110 each positioned the same distance from the axis of the rotatable member. The rearward part of each bore 110 defined in part by end wall 108 is sized to snugly seat an ammunition cartridge 114. The exterior portion of end wall 108 may be recessed at 112 and preferably contains an annular groove 111 defined in part by flat base 109 against which the rim 113 of each cartridge 114 abuts and by an inner side wall 117 whose height is preferably less than the thickness of rim 113 causing cartridge base 115 to protrude beyond exterior end wall face 119. The remaining forward portion of each bore 110 is preferably enlarged so as to provide slight clearance between the side wall of the bore and projectile head 117. The forward end of bore 110 is recessed at 118 and receives a plug 121 preferably formed of a hardened plastic which serves to seal each cartridge containing bore from moisture and to provide an oxygen containing atmosphere within the bore to assist cartridge propellant detonation. Additionally the exterior cylindrical surface 156 of rotatable member 102 may be grooved and knurled to facilitate gripping the member.

To assist in retaining cartridges 114 within bores a retainer plate preferably having a central aperture 122 and a circular circumferential periphery defining a plurality of equally spaced apart longitudinal grooves 124 may be removably mounted against the exterior face 119 of rotatable member end wall 108. To mount plate 120, a bar 130 projecting from one face of an integral retainer and bearing disk-shaped member 136 extends through retainer plate aperture 122 into a central bore 138 in end wall 108 with member 136 abutting plate 120. The end of bar 130 contains an axially threaded bore into which a headed screw 140 is engaged. Screw 140 carries a washer 142 which engages the interior face 141 of end wall 108. The number of grooves 124 in plate 120 preferably equals the number of bores 110 in rotatable member 102. Each groove 124 is preferably enlarged at one end with such enlargement being defined by surface 127 and shoulder 129. With plate 120 held against rotatable member end Wall face 119, a portion of the circumferential margin of each cartridge base 115 is received within a groove enlargement 125 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4.

A shaft 134 axially aligned with bar projects from the opposite face of integral disk-shaped member 136 and is journaled within bore 76 of outer telescopic member part 74. With member 136 rotatively engaging surface 146 of part 74, shaft 134 preferably extends slightly beyond the opposite surface 144 of part 74. The end portion of shaft 134 is axially bored and has engaged therein a headed screw 150 which carries a washer 152. Washer 152 abuts the end of shaft 134 with its outer margin overlying a portion of surface 144.

With rotatable member 102 mounted on bar 130, indexing pin 88 protrudes slightly into a retainer plate groove 124 engaging its defining edges so as to retain a cartridge 114 in alignment with a detonating pin 64, as shown in FIG. 2. As rotatable member 102 is rotated, beveled edges 98 and 100 of indexing pin 88 and key 90 are wedged against and over the outer edge 123 of groove 124 causing the indexing pin to be retracted. The indexing pin 88 remains in this retracted position until it reaches an adjacent groove 124 and indexes therein thereby aligning another cartridge 114 with detonating pin 64. Obviously, the distance between an aligned cartridge base 115 and the detonating pin 88 when the outer telescopic member is at its forward limit position as shown in FIG. 2 must be less than the amount of reciprocable movement between telescopic members 16 and 30.

To load the hereindescribed embodiment of this invention, headed screw and washer 142 are removed from the end of bar 130 permitting rotatable member 102 to be separated from the remainder of the gun. All spent shell casings are removed from bores 110 and replaced by new cartridges which preferably have their casings slightly greased to facilitate their seating within the bores. This greasing or lubrication of the cartridge casings also facilitates their removal after firing. The forward end of each cartridge bore 110 is then sealed by inserting a deformable plug therein. After all cartridges have been seated with bores 110 and the forward end of said bores plugged, the rotatable member is inserted over bar 130 and abutted against plate 120 with cartridge bases '115 received in groove enlargement 125. Head screw 140 carrying washer 142 is then replaced and tightened.

To operate the hereindescribed embodiment of this invention, the swimmer presses the protruding flattened end part 48 of the safety pin into outer telescopic member 30 and approaches his target grasping the gun by handle 10. When within striking distance of the target, the swimmer thrusts the forward or exposed face 160 of rotatable member 102 against the body of the target causing inner telescopic member 166 and outer telescopic member 30 to collapse against the action of spring 22. This movement between telescopic members causes the detonating pin 64 to contact the primer of aligned cartridge 114 thereby detonating the cartridge. A portion of the gases generated by the detonation of the propellant charge preferably precedes the projectile head 117 out the slightly enlarged portion of cartridge bore 110 causing dislodgement of plug 121 and the dispersement of any water between the forward face 160 of the rotatable member and the body of the target. To prepare the gun for firing of another cartridge, the swimmer need only grasp the knurled outer surface 156 of the rotatable member 102 and rotate member 102 until the adjacent cartridge is indexed into alignment with the detonating pin. The nonbeveled edges 158 of key 90 prevents reverse rotation of rotatable member 102 thereby precluding the indexing of an adjacent spent cartridge into alignment with the pin. To reset the safety after use, the swimmer need only press the protruding cylindrical portion 50 of the safety pin into outer telepscopic member 30. The number of shots per gun is principally dependent upon the size of the rotatable member.

An additional feature of this invention is that should the gun be dropped by the swimmer the hollowness of handle 10 will cause the weapon to rest on the sea bottom in a vertical position thereby assisting in its recovery.

What I claim is:

1. An underwater gun comprising a handle, an inner telescopic member carried by one end of said handle, an outer telescopic member reciprocable upon said inner telescopic member between two limit positions, spring means urging said outer telescopic member to a forward limit position, a rotatable member carried by said outer telescopic member and containing a plurality of equally spaced longitudinal bores each spaced an equal distance from the axis of rotation thereof and having an end part adapted to seat an ammunition cartridge, said inner telescopic member including a detonating pin with which each cartridge bore is alignable as said rotatable member is rotated and which is adapted to strike an ammunition cartridge seated in an aligned cartridge bore when said outer telescopic member moves longitudinally from its forward limit position relative to said inner telescopic member, and indexing means for selectively aligning each cartridge bore with said detonating pin.

2. The underwater gun of claim 1, wherein said inner telescopic member has a transverse bore, said outer telescopic member has an aperture registering with said transverse bore when said outer telescopic member is in its forward limit position, and a pin removably seating in said aperture and said transverse bore to prevent relative movement between said inner and outer telescopic members.

3. The underwater gun of claim 1, and plug means mounted in and sealing the forward end of each cartridge bore.

4. The underwater gun of claim 1, and a cartridge retaining means removably mounted to said rotatable member adjacent each cartridge bore end part.

5. The underwater gun of claim 4, wherein said cartridge retaining means includes a plate having a portion of its circumferential margin partially overlying each cartridge bore and adapted to abut the base of an ammunition cartridge seated within said cartridge bore.

6. The underwater gun of claim 5, wherein said outer telescopic member has a longitudinal bore, said rotatable member has an axial bore, said plate has a central aperture, and including a retainer and bearing disk-shaped member, forward and rearward aligned projections each oppositely extending from a face of said disk-shaped member, said forward projection inserted through said plate aperture and mounted within said axial bore, and said rearward projection journaled in said last mentioned longitudinal bore.

7. The underwater gun of claim 5, wherein said circumferential margin of said plate has a plurality of longitudinal grooves each aligned with a said cartridge bore, each groove-defining portion of said plate margin being adapted to overlie a portion of the outer peripheral margin of the base of an ammunition cartridge seated in said cartridge bore.

8. The underwater gun of claim 7, wherein each groovedefining portion of said plate margin is recessed to receive a portion of the outer peripheral margin of the base of an ammunition cartridge seated in said cartridge bore.

9. The underwater gun of claim 7, wherein said indexing means includes a spring urged detent which is carried by said outer telescopic member and which projects into a said plate groove.

10. The underwater gun of claim 9, wherein said detent includes means permitting one-way rotation of said rotatable member.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,145,494 8/1964 Willcox et al. 42-1 3,274,936 9/1966 Messina et al. 421 3,300,888 1/1967 Belcher et al. 42-1 SAMUEL FEINBERG, Primary Examiner C. T. JORDAN, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 42-l 

